Structural stability of basalt fibers with varying biochemical conditions- A invitro and invivo study

• Discusses structural stability of basalt fibers in the environment.
• Degeneration of basalt fibers at altered chemical conditions.
• Degradation of basalt fibers when exposed to altered biological environment and bacterial attack.
• Characterization of treated and untreated basalt fibers using various techniques like EDX, FT-IR and SEM to describe the structural changes occurred.

Basalt rocks are formed in nature due to the rapid cooling of lava carbonatite and are available in plenty. They are used as reinforcement fibers worldwide, but their chemical properties were found to vary with geographical region. In the study, the degradative properties of basalt fibers with altered chemical and biological conditions were found to deplete the strength of the basalt fiber reinforced concrete and polymer modified basalt fiber reinforced concrete. Further investigations on the degradative and degenerative properties of the fibers with various chemical and biological stress explained the structural instability of the basalt fibers. SEM and optical micrographs has clearly shown the spalling and exfoliation of the basalt fibers by leaching out the mafic minerals on biochemical degradation. EDX and FT-IR data has also revealed the utilization of mafic minerals by the microorganisms as their carbon and nitrogen source explaining the rapid degradation of basalt fibers.